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Fibertect Cotton-Soaking, a three-layer flexible, inert, nonwoven, non-particulate decontamination system that has been proven to be successful in absorbing and adsorbing chemical warfare agents, may now prove useful in recovery efforts in the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and other oil spills of similar size and severity. Fibertect CS was developed by Texas Tech University’s The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH) Associate Professor Seshadri Ramkumar and is manufactured by Hobbs Bonded Fibers for First Line Technology.

As of May 29, Fibertect CS is officially approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The three layers of material consist of a top and bottom fabric with a center layer of fibrous activated carbon that is needle punched into a composite fabric. The top and bottom layers provide structural coherence, improving mechanical strength and abrasion resistance while the center layer holds volatile compounds, like oil. Dr. Ramkumar said according to documented research published by many scientists, raw cotton can absorb up to 20 times its weight. But when chemically modified the material can hold more than two to three times that amount. And, unlike synthetic materials like polypropylene that are currently used in many oil containment booms, Fibertect made from raw cotton and carbon is biodegradable.